CREATING A CULTURE: PITCHFORK MEDIA‘S TEXTUAL AND CULTURAL IMPACT ON ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at the University of Missouri- Columbia In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by EMILY BRASHER Dr. Stephanie Craft, Thesis Supervisor DECEMBER 2013 The undersigned, appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School, have examined the thesis entitled CREATING A CULTURE: PITCHFORK MEDIA‘S TEXTUAL AND CULTURAL IMPACT ON ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE Presented by Emily Brasher A candidate for the degree of Master of Arts And hereby certify that in their opinion it is worthy of acceptance. Professor Stephanie Craft Professor Mary Kay Blakely Professor Andrew Hoberek Professor Lynda Kraxberger To my family, for always believing in me. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Stephanie Craft for all of her support and patience though this process. The road was long—there were a few address changes and even a name change along the way—but Dr. Craft spurred me on until the journey reached a happy end. My deepest thanks also to Dr. Mary Kay Blakely, Dr. Andrew Hoberek, and Dr. Lynda Kraxberger, for bearing with me through it all. Thanks to Dr. Betty Winfield for getting me started, and to Ginny Cowell and Martha Pickens for their invaluable advice and help. ii CREATING A CULTURE: PITCHFORK MEDIA‘S TEXTUAL AND CULTURAL IMPACT ON ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE Emily Brasher Dr. Stephanie Craft, Thesis Supervisor ABSTRACT The main purpose of this research is to demonstrate how cultures and subcultures can be created and disseminated through media, and how newer forms of media such as websites can have a tangible effect on the content of older forms of media such as print magazines. Specifically, this study uses the qualitative research methods of textual analysis and case study to explore how the music criticism website Pitchforkmedia.com creates and disseminates cultural capital in the form of ―indie‖ music, and how this cultural capital is then reflected in the content of Rolling Stone magazine. A case study of the band Arcade Fire and its rise to the cultural mainstream demonstrates how Pitchfork can directly influence music culture and popularity; as well as how Pitchfork‘s editorial choices are reflected by Rolling Stone magazine. A textual analysis of annual ―Top 50‖ lists from Pitchfork and Rolling Stone reveals Rolling Stone’s implementation of the descriptor and label ―indie‖ in its content a significant amount of time after Pitchfork thrust ―indie‖ bands to the forefront of its editorial content. Through case study and textual analysis, filtered through the theoretical constructs of cultural theory, this research supports the hypothesis that Pitchfork could influence the editorial content of Rolling Stone. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................................. ii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................................. i 1. Pitchfork‘s Place in Media Evolution ............................................................................................v 1 Old and New Media ............................................................................................................................ 2 What is Pitchforkmedia.com? .......................................................................................................... 4 2. Cultural Theory .................................................................................................................................... 7 3. Historical Context of Magazines, Music and Culture ............................................................ 11 Why Study Magazines, Niche Publications and Music Journalism? ................................. 11 Evolution of Rock Music Criticism and the Alternative Press ............................................ 11 A Brief History of Rolling Stone and Pitchfork ...................................................................... 18 Rolling Stone. ................................................................................................................................ 18 Pitchfork. ........................................................................................................................................ 20 4. Methodology ...................................................................................................................................... 23 Textual Analysis................................................................................................................................ 23 Case Study .......................................................................................................................................... 26 5. From Pitchfork to Rolling Stone: A Textual Analysis of ―Top 50 Albums‖ Lists ........ 27 6. Arcade Fire: A Short Case Study ................................................................................................. 32 In the Beginning: A Brief History of Arcade Fire ................................................................... 32 Funeral: The Pitchfork Review and Its Consequences .......................................................... 34 7. Findings and Discussion ................................................................................................................. 41 Textual Analysis: 2004 ........................................................................................................................ 41 Textual Analysis: 2007 ................................................................................................................... 42 Discussion of Textual Analysis .................................................................................................... 44 iv 8. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................... 46 Defining the Cultural Effect of Pitchfork .................................................................................. 46 How Do They Do It? ....................................................................................................................... 50 Importance of Study and Suggestions for Further Research ................................................ 52 Arrival .................................................................................................................................................. 53 APPENDIX ............................................................................................................................................. 54 1. Table: Number of Indie Artists Included in Top 50 List by Year .................................. 54 2. Table: Genre Breakouts by Year and Publication .............................................................. 55 3. Table: Style Breakouts by Year and Publication ................................................................ 57 4. Table: Use of Term ―Indie‖ in Text of Top 50 by Year and Publication .................... 59 Bibliography............................................................................................................................................ 60 v LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Number of Indie Artists Included in Top 50 List by Year .............................................54 2. Genre Breakouts by Year and Publication .....................................................................55 3. Style Breakouts by Year and Publication ......................................................................57 4. Use of Term ―Indie‖ in Text of Top 50 by Year and Publication ..................................59 i v 1. Pitchfork’s Place in Media Evolution ―Dissecting how we got here seems unimportant. It‘s simply comforting to know that we have arrived.‖ So ends a 2004 album review of the band Arcade Fire‘s debut record (Moore, 2004 para. 9). The review appeared on a website called Pitchforkmedia.com, and may have been the catalyst for launching the then-unknown band into relative superstardom. But before we get into an explanation of how and why this might have occurred, it is perhaps important to answer the question that provoked the review‘s ending statements: ―How did we get here?‖ (para. 1). As we forge ahead into the unknown technological era of the 2010s, this study attempts to illustrate relationships between this fairly new online journalism and older print media. In 2000 Pavlik asserted that the advent of the digital, networked world of communication was fundamentally changing models of twentieth-century journalism. According to his article, no longer could most journalists and editors be content to merely publish the news, instead the process was becoming much more of a dialogue between the press and the public (Pavlik, 2000). This dialogue between the press and the public can be taken a step further with the help of the Internet and online publishing. As with Pitchforkmedia.com, a website in which virtually anyone with a talent for writing and passion for music can break into the journalism industry, the Internet provides the opportunity for almost anyone throughout the globe to be active participants in the 1 communication process online (Pavlik, 2000). Although Stöber (2004) asserted